212 Olympia 2022 - starring Clarida, Elgargni and Celderón!

Although it may seem that this year's 212 Olympia competition, part of Olympia Weekend, is still a long way off, the nine and a half weeks that separate us from the event will fly by and soon the battle will be on the stage to see who will be the new king of bodybuilders with a maximum weight limit of 212 pounds.

For as we know, the reigning champion, Derek Lunsford, will be competing in the open category at this year's Olympia Weekend, where he will be showcasing his musculature and form alongside other heavyweights on the Mr. Olympia stage!

A large part of the fans are convinced that the very tough battle for the champion will be fought by the pair of Kamal Elgargni and Shaun Clarida, the winners of this event in 2019 and 2020. After all, the organizers of Olympia Weekend are counting on this pair, as they are featured on one of the many banners for this event.

Other fans then add in the same breath that, besides these two, Angel Celderón Frias will certainly be in the title game. And last year's edition of the competition proved them right, with all three of the aforementioned coming in right behind Derek.

All three of them are connected by one more, rather big fact. Although their home category is the 212lb division, they all had very good starts among their heavier and in many cases much taller opponents!

Shaun Clarida competed at the Legion Sports Fest Pro 2021 last October, leaving behind such fighters as Sergio Oliva Jr, Regan Grimes, Max Charles, Cedric McMillan and Patrick Moore!

Shaun was thus able to qualify for the 2022 Mr. Olympia competition. He would love to compete in it himself, but only if he is allowed to also stand on the stage at this year's 212 Olympia. This, for now, hasn't happened, because according to the current Olympia Weekend rules, a contestant can only compete in one of the categories. The organizers are thus counting on him to compete at 212 Olympia 2022.

Angel Celderón Frias earned a start in the open at the 2021 Bigman Weekend Pro last November. While there wasn't the same competition as Clarida at the Legion Sports Fest Pro, Emir Omeragic, Morgan Aste, Mohammad Nsour, Dani Kaganovich and Eduardo Rodriguez aren't among the big underdogs either. Still, Angel was able to handle them, dominate the competition, and he too was able to qualify for this year's Mr. Olympia. However, he himself has stated several times that he will be directing his training towards the 212-pound division.

Kamal Elgargni then made his debut amongst the heavyweights this year, at the Wings of Strength Tampa Pro 2022. He was only unable to keep up with the gargantuan Akim Williams on the podium, taking a very respectable second place.

Shaun Clarida

"The Giant Slayer", as Shaun's nickname goes, who is sponsored by MUTANT, recently got together for a joint back training session with his teammate Jemie Christian-Johal, the open division representative and the 2022 Yamamoto France Pro bronze man. This meeting was like David and Goliath coming together. After all, the nearly six-foot-tall Johal and the just over six-foot-tall Clarida were side by side.

Shaun himself accompanied this meeting with the words:

Giant vs. Giant Killer!
Me: 157 cm and 91 kg
Jamie: 195 cm and 140 kg

Eleven weeks before the Olympia Weekend, he also completed a leg workout in the company of a powerlifter and a strongman.

Kamal Elgargni

As you can see from the most recent photo Kamal posted on his Instagram, he is ready to "fight" for his second Olympia win!

Apart from the photos, he also added videos to his Instagram. The first shows him checking his form, while the second was taken during his back workout, where he was kept company by the reigning king of the 212lb division, Derek Lunsford, mentioned in the introduction of this article.

Zobrazit příspěvek na Instagramu

Příspěvek sdílený Kamal Elgargni (@ifbb_pro_kamal_elgargni)

Angel Celderón Frias

Angel underwent a fitness check 11 and 10 weeks before taking the stage, which he also shared with his fans on Instagram.

Zobrazit příspěvek na Instagramu

Příspěvek sdílený Angel Calderon Ifbb Pro (@angelcalderon212)

And how do you see it? Who is your favourite of the three to win this year's 212 Olympia? Or do you have another favourite?

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